What to tweet, When & Why

A “Clued Up” Article

The one thing many love about twitter in comparison to Facebook is that theoretically you can tweet as much as you want and no one really has the right to moan about it. Twitter is often known for updates like “Finally on the Bus”. On Facebook this seems irrelevant and unnecessary but on twitter it’s accepted, in fact encouraged! Imagine if a celebrity wrote on twitter that they are getting on a bus, likely thousands of individuals would tweet back trying to find out which bus and where. “So, that is a celebrity!” you argue, it’s easy for them to engage with their followers 50% of them want to marry them and the other 50% think they already are. So what can I tweet to engage my followers? Firstly I think it is good to consider these 3 questions.

1)     What is the purpose of your twitter account?

• Is it personal or business?
• Do you have a specific profession or skill?
• Do you want to be able to talk about everything and anything?
• Are you posting your personal work or promoting others

2)      What are your intentions for this platform?

• To gain more followers
• To promote your work/ business/ services
• To provide general information
• To follow others and get the latest gossip
• To keep updated with serious things like news/charities

3)      What do you personally like/ enjoy?

• Sports
• Business
• Cosmetics
• Health & Nutrition
• Nothing other people like?
• Everything?

Considering these questions can help you to target the kind of tweets you are going to post. For example;

Take scenario A)

Meet Adam -Adam has a personal twitter account, he is good at football but just plays it on weekends with some mates, weekdays he is a sales assistant at a health products store in London. He likes to talk about sports and fitness and currently posts tweets about daily activities including football and journey travels to work. Adam wants to gain more followers so that he can speak to people from all over the world about sports. He also follows celebrity athletes and posts about upcoming games; Adam wants to be able to share valuable information about events, products and sports news.

How can we help Adam?

Firstly, Adam has a great passion for football and can expose this through his tweets; Adam can upload pictures from the weekend games and share his tricks and skills through videos. He also can inform people about good health products his workplace may sell. Maybe it is new on the shelves or the most recommended. This will generate followers who want to speak about health and fitness as well as looking for advice. Most athletes also want to know more information about how they can keep fit and would be interested in following Adam to get some great updates – that is his profession at the end of the day. How about Adam’s passion to wanting to meet people from all over the world on twitter? Well Adam can write posts about events happening in other countries too, get live feed and updates and discuss the results. ‘Retweeting’ a few of other peoples posts shows you’re interested in them too and within moments can start a discussion. Just supporting a different country in a football match can get you kudos online, even some people against it, Adam can use his knowledge about the teams he supports and facts he knows to have friendly sports debates online.

That scenario shows us that even if we don’t specialise in a topic and were not a business or corporation, likes are we still know a few facts and it is not illegal to base things on your opinion. You may not work in your ideal career but think about what you have learnt and benefited from where you work, can you use that in your personal account to generate an interest?

So what if you’re a business? I haven’t forgotten about you!

Take Scenario B)

Meet Rapid Rupees – they are a money transferring company based in India. They provide services to other countries to allow individuals or businesses to transfer money within their local currency. They specialise in providing instant transfers of Rupees to those in India and other countries that use that currency including Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal. Their twitter account is to bring awareness to the company and their services and need to promote how easy and safe transferring money can be. They generally want to talk about currency rates and the money transfer service but sometimes provide posts about breaking news around the world. They need followers from all over the world and want to target businesses.

How can Rapid Rupees expand their service?

Like our first scenario Rapid Rupees can target those interested in their service, they can write tweets asking if people need to send money to India. Whether they need to know conversion rates or if they are aware of the amazing service and promotions they offer. Tweeting about currency and business on their twitter will generate serious business owners who could be interested. Also updating followers about news will be informative and they are sure to Retweet or favourite the tweet. Rapid Rupees can post links to promotions, deals or articles, directing followers to their website and specific services that they offer. Photos never hurt a business neither; it makes the account look less ‘robotic’. Photos of the office, area in which the main office is located, hot spots or pictures of the promotions you offer, are ways to engage with your existing and potential customers.

Remembering to engage with followers do not only expect to receive but also give! This shows that you’re interested, especially as a business!

So when are the best times to send these tweets?

There is no specific time of day, especially when you have followers from all different time zones. I find that when I tweet at 3am in the morning here in England, London, Some of my followers are saying enjoy your day and tweeting about what they are having for lunch, other are getting ready for bed for an early night. You can reach all different people at all different times, there is no restriction. However a tip would be to consider what you are tweeting about. If Adam fro our first scenario was to tweet about a sports game that was not going to be for another week, he may not generate as much interest. However tweeting just before, during or after the game may be the epic moments where he can generate interest, discussions and even better – Organic Followers!

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* Individuals or organisations suggested in the examples have been constructed for the purpose of this article *

BONUS : Twitter management – Reports, Website integrations, Monitor fake accounts Plus more ! Also See Justin bieber’s fake followers score!